Movements are mass groupings of people caught up with a commitment to a cause. You see movements everywhere – environmental movements, justice movements, cultural movements. People get swept along with the momentum and vision of changing the world in one way or another... 

The Kingdom of God, centred on Jesus, is without doubt the greatest movement in the history of the world. We are all a part of that movement. We believe that God is calling us as Navigators to mobilise a fresh movement of alongsiders who will touch thousands of lives. How many Christians do you know who gently and intentionally get alongside others to help them grow in their faith? The answer, if we are honest, is likely to be hardly any at all. We desperately need a massive multiplication of people who live out the simple vision of ‘Get alongside someone; see what God can do’.   

A relational movement 

God birthed the Navigators almost 90 years ago and he used us to spread a renewal of the relational heart of making disciples. Discipleship is passed on and worked out over time, in the context of two relationships: loving God and loving others.  

God has used the Navigators to help his Church recover the centrality of ordinary people as the bridge between Jesus and this broken world. The Holy Spirit enables people to show the life and love of Jesus to those around them. People, weak as we are, can somehow help others come to know God intimately. God used the Navigators to equip thousands, probably millions, of ordinary believers (who weren’t sure God was able to use them) to embrace God’s purposes for their relationships.  

A fresh movement 

This calling of being an alongsider is so strategically important. Unlike in 1955, when the Navigators started in the UK, the vast majority of our population is now detached from church culture. Many barely know a Christian. It is no longer news that people are increasingly unlikely to walk into churches off the street. The need of the hour, therefore, is people – ordinary people being equipped to share the life of Jesus as they live alongside others.    

You are the bridge to the broken world. This vision of being an alongsider isn’t passive, it isn’t vague. It is a vision for your life that is rooted deeply in God’s promises to use you, promises which are guaranteed in Jesus. Consider what God promised Abraham:  

‘I will make you into a great nation, 
    and I will bless you; 
I will make your name great, 
    and you will be a blessing. 
I will bless those who bless you, 
    and whoever curses you I will curse; 
and all peoples on earth 
    will be blessed through you.’ (Genesis 12:2-3) 

In this promise, a person – an ordinary person – becomes the means of God bringing his blessing into the world. This is an extraordinary thing to meditate on. We inherit this promise through Jesus (Galatians 3:7-9). We become Abraham's ‘heirs’ and we join him in this blessing mission. There is no greater foundation on which to build a movement

It’s time to believe God for a fresh movement of alongsiders, through the Navigators, who live out this vision and see God profoundly transform lives, one person at a time.  

An everyday movement 

One of the challenges for the UK Navigators in the past has been the perception that a relationship with the Navigators is only for those who are ‘professional’ Christians – usually on gift income and working solely in a ministry context. We are eager to change this false perception: a Navigator at heart is simply a person who shares our calling to be an alongsider in their everyday life. A significant proportion of ‘Navigators’ in other parts of the world have full-time jobs and are living out the calling in the midst of their busy lives – living out God’s goodness and investing in a few. 

We believe it is time to acknowledge and mobilise the large numbers of people in the UK who have been influenced by the Navigators in the past and are keen to genuinely feel a part of the movement once again by joining our calling. We also believe there is enormous untapped potential in the Body of Christ to rally a whole new generation of people to start this adventure of becoming alongsiders. In fact, we believe that the fruitfulness of the church depends on it! Are you ready to join the adventure?